Cape Canaveral City Council asks BPS to pause elementary school closure for a year

Brevard school board weighs closing Cape View Elementary

The fight to keep Cape Canaveral’s only public elementary school open intensified Tuesday as city leaders urged the Brevard County School Board to delay a decision to close Cape View Elementary.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The fight to keep Cape Canaveral’s only public elementary school open intensified Tuesday.

City leaders urged the Brevard County School Board to delay a decision to close Cape View Elementary.

It comes as the school has struggled with enrollment for years. 

Enrollment issues

The backstory:

Bresvard Public Schools (BPS) is tracking low enrollment, under 50%, at both Cape View in Cape Canaveral and Roosevelt Elementary in Cocoa Beach. To help the issue, the district is considering consolidating both schools and re-zoning the kids on the Cape to attend the Cocoa Beach elementary school instead.

"In the last 4–5 years, it’s been under 300 all of the years but one, so this is a sustained loss of enrollment," said Superintendent Mark Rendell.

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The district says a combination of older populations, short-term rentals and school choices across the state is making it unsustainable to keep underperforming schools open, which is what prompted the study about consolidation.

The board is also concerned about scrutiny from the state, with DOGE looking at ways for cities and schools to save taxpayers money.

"The pressure from the state on us on school districts has been increased," said Katye Campbell, the Brevard County School Board representative for District 5.

What the city says

Cape Canaveral city leaders are worried the school district is making the call too soon because they’re monitoring shifts in the real estate market. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of home buyers bought up properties for short-term rentals.

However, those aren’t performing as well, so people are selling off or switching to long-term leases.

"I believe that we’ve got a market that’s in transition. I have a few small number of units that I deal with, and I’ve had three of them sell in the last year because they aren’t making their numbers. They bought in at the peak of the pandemic," said Kay Jackson, the city’s Mayor Pro Tem.

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The city is asking for a one-year pause to give them time to workshop, help boost enrollment and even come up with new funding sources to save the school.

Parents react

Parents who have students at the elementary school are devastated that it may close. Parents value the walkability and small-town feel of the public community school. They also don’t think it’s right to only look at the financials of this decision because it affects students.

"She says they focus on the students – it’s not about the students. It’s about the dollar wherever the money is," said Cape View parent Lindsey Worling.

Many have been attending school board meetings and city council meetings voicing their opposition over the last few months about closing the school.

What's next:

The school board will vote on whether to close the school as early as Jan. 20.